I think I might have seen this topic mentioned elsewhere in the forum, but it’s imperative that new owners keep using their system for at least a day. In my case the sound went from mediocre to completely mind-blowing in a little over 24 hrs. The bit I don’t understand is that I have changed absolutely nothing and isn’t this solid state electronics - do these actually run in?
I had bought the Nova to replace a Bluesound Powernode 2 (not the i) and when it first arrived I was pretty disappointed. The Powernode just sounded better, especially in the bass control department. I had thought that maybe it was my speakers - a pair of Tannoy XT8’s, maybe they weren’t suitable?
I was actually considering selling it straight away and getting something else in the Bluesound family, however, despite the disappointment I kept on using it, then late today - a little over 24 hours later the sound had completely changed. I have never heard anything like it and it has blown away everything that I have ever heard. Now I can’t stop listening to music and hearing that music for the ‘first’ time!
So my advice, is that if you get a new Naim Uniti and yours doesn’t sound good out of the box - give it a day or so before you pass judgement. If your system is anything like mine, the transformation is just off the scale.
Patience is a virtue with Naim stuff. I reckon you will continue to hear improvements over the first few hundred hours. I certainly did.
Welcome to the forum by the way!
Naim are known for the time they take to ‘‘bed in’’ at the same time they are noted for their longevity , still have a 30 year old piece of Naim kit in my rack - and I ain’t alone - others have older pieces.
Along with run in, don’t forget it takes a while for all the electronics to charge up like the capacitors. Almost any new stereo item I have plugged in from new or even if it is broken in already and has been unplugged a while, takes time to sound it’s best again.
Nope it goes into standby when not in use. I was very surprised as in the eighties and nineties I used to work with electronics (though admittedly not audio) and I didn’t think solid state components needed running in. Valves do, but they are a different kettle of fish.
The Audio quality between first getting it and around a day or two later was staggering. I think that, more than anything, really caught me out.
I guess my question should have been does the audio quality change between leaving it on all the time vs standby.
I’ve heard it’s better to leave it on, but then I’m not sure why Naim has an option of Auto standby time as Never.
Energy compliance rules (and arguably common sense) requires a low-power mode. They try to keep the impact small and keep critical parts powered, but it still seems to need some time to regain full performance. At least this is what I read into this post by Steve Harris:
What I am not clear about is whether there is a difference wrt to power between the server mode that he recommends there and the “autostandy off” mode. I just asked in a reply.
My Star pulls defintely more than 2 watts in standby mode (and server mode). we’ve got a smart meter that is monitored closely by the missus, and it’s clearly gone up since I bought the Uniti, and not just while playing music. I do sometimes fully switch it off (when going on holiday), and notice that it does need to literally warm up again to sound best.
